Both new and refreshed models coming soon with Intel's latest processor tech

Google has announced in conjunction with Intel today that the companies will be bringing multiple new Chromebook and Chromebox devices based on the newest Haswell processors in the coming months. Adding to the ranks of current Chromebooks — some based on ARM processors and others on old older Intel chips — are at least four new devices from HP, Acer, Toshiba and ASUS.

The HP Chromebook 14 is a 14-inch laptop that weighs in at 4.08lbs and 0.81-inches thick, with multiple color options and quotes 9.5 hours of battery life. The "New" Acer Chromebook has an 11.6-inch display, weighs 2.76lbs, is 0.76-inches thick and has 8.5 hours of battery life — that's over double the 4 hours of the previous model. Details of pricing and availability for these two are sparse at the moment, but product pages with sign-ups are live already.

While it is only ready to show off the specifications of two of these devices, Google says that we will see a Chromebook entry from Toshiba (pictured above, on the left) and a Chromebox from ASUS (above, right) in the coming months. Moreover, Google says to expect new Chrome OS devices from "multiple device manufacturers" and that six of the top laptop manufacturers are now making Chromebooks.

The simplicity and versatility of Chromebooks paired up with the power savings and increased performance of Intel Haswell chips seems like a match made in heaven, and we can't wait to see them hitting stores.

being cheaper isn't a problem, the Pixel is the only one that was expensive.
having bought a Chromebook though, I'm now returning it. It really does feel like only half of a computer, I get more functionality out of my N7.

Seconded. My Chromebook (the original CR-48 'prototype' they gave to a select few for free, bragbragbrag) works great for casual web surfing while on the couch, using Google Docs, etc. I don't know that it would be an easily viable option for business-level users unless your whole company was using Google Apps, but I think for most users the Chromebook experience would be quite sufficient. I've had mine for.......about 3 years now, if memory serves, and the only thing wrong with it is that the hinge is starting to give, but I haven't seen anywhere that the other/production models have this problem.

We also use it as a sort of 'backup' to the main laptop (Win7) we have at home, so when we go on vacations or otherwise out of town we don't have to go carting around our sensitive information with us. The Chromebook is a quick and easy email/maps/web browsing machine in that respect.

Oof, can't believe you're still able to use your Cr-48. Mine was okay at first, but then got intolerably slow...though I did spill coffee all over it once so maybe that's a contributing factor? Anyway, I got the Samsung Series 5 550 and I'm happy with it in general. My only complaint is the small/low res screen.

My coworker went to I/O and got a Pixel and I have to say, I'd be thrilled to use one of those as my home laptop. I use large Excel files too much at work for it to replace any sort of professional hardware, but it would definitely serve my home browsing/entertainment needs (especially so if the Chromecast tab mirroring becomes less laggy).

3 months ago my Cr-48 has come out of a 2yr retirement. I recalled not being able to play youtube videos on this puppy 2 years ago but now it doesn't skip a beat (no more adobe flash!). My Cr-48 has actually gotten faster/smoother with age. Just started grad school at Humboldt and am using google drive/doc for school work. Google play music has a decent chunk of my music library. Drive is integrated into the file management, gmail/docs works offline, wireless printing, 6hr+ battery life. It does the job for me.

For one thing Google Earth doesn't work, at all, on Chrome OS. Everythign I've done on the Chromebook, from editing documents to playing games, works just as well on Android, if not better. on top of which, i don't have to worry about whether whatever app I just downloaded will work without an internet connection.
Chrome is half-baked, Google should just can it and adapt Android to a notebook/desktop distribution.

Crouton, and it is not an insult but your ignorance not knowing Crouton - that allows you to install and of course run almost any GNU package make this Linux powered machines faster and better than MS WOS 8 ones, and far more cheaper as most of the packages are FOSS

Fabulous, so I can use Crouton to install an OS with marginally better marketshare on top of the half-baked OS that is Chrome. And how does that help anyone who wants to use Windows specific software? Are you going to run WINE on top of Crouton on top of Chrome? And then come to find that WINE doesn't run even half the software you need it to?
If you have to install an OS on top of your OS, then your OS in inadequate to your needs. If you have to install yet another OS on top of that, you're just being ridiculous.

If you want to use Windows specific applications then you wouldn't buy a Chromebook to begin with. For people who enjoy Linux, the Acer C7 is a very capable machine that can run a Linux distro for a nice price tag.

As the proud owner of a Chromebook Pixel, for most users local storage isn't really an issue. I consider myself a power user, but the 32GB of local space is plenty. Keep in mind that almost all your files will be stored on Drive, and the hard drive is just a local cache. That means the hard drive's size is only meaningful for offline use.

Stoara of chromebooks in on the cloud. It really doesnt have a hard drive, I have one and it is awesome for surfing the web, but for me it really doesn't replace my other computers. I need my desktop mac to use things like MS office. But it is a great computer. I love it.

Though I'm looking forward to the new Chromebooks (might have to sell my Acer C7 Chromebook for these new editions :p), I'm surprised about the Chromebox...I was for sure thinking they were doing away with them.

It figures. I just bought the Exynos-powered Samsung Chromebook over the weekend! Passed on the Acer and HP versions because of the woefully short battery life, lack of Bluetooth, and the glossy screens.

Personally, I love my Chromebook so far. I can easily get 6+ hours out of it on a single charge. Yes, computing in the Chrome/Google ecosystem takes some getting used to at first and I do have to work around some of its limitations, but this is a very welcome reprieve from the Windows OS world.

Performance-wise, probably. In terms of build quality, screen, keyboard, etc., almost certainly not. But that's not the point. There's going to be a market for Chromebooks north of the $200-250 price point, but well south of the Pixel, which is where I assume these will land.

That said, the new Bay Trail chips should make a perfect low-end Chromebook too.

Just picked up the Acer Chromebook and really like it, better than the higher priced Samsung actually. For what it is designed for, it does really well. And for the price (under $200) they are hard to beat.

If I could find a simple and workable way to use extended characters on my chromebook, I wouldn't take half so dim a view of its usefulness. As far as I can see, the Google productivity suite is useless for all but the simplest tasks, and it doesn't even do those very well.

Only interested if they can do something about the awful touchpads in pretty much all of the previous generation Chromebooks. After trying to touchpads on the original sets and seeing the complete janky performance of them on screen - I'll definitely wait and see before considering them.

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